A marathon is no easy feat: 26.2 miles on even the flattest ground would cause many to collapse. It is perhaps a testament to the difficulty of it that the man for whom the marathon is named reportedly died upon completion of the first recorded race of its kind.
Now, people use the Los Angeles Marathon or other marathons as a way to challenge themselves and as an impetus for getting more exercise.
But, this Sunday, many will be running for a more worthy cause than simple exercise.
This is the second year that members of the Sigma Pi fraternity have run the marathon to raise money for the Santa Monica-UCLA Rape Treatment Center.
Michael Spiker, philanthropy chair of Sigma Pi and second-year anthropology student, along with Jennifer Weber, fourth-year psychology student, will run the marathon to support the center.
The Santa Monica-UCLA Rape Treatment Center provides free counseling and medical attention to victims of rape, Spiker said.
Sigma Pi raises money for the Center, and also seeks to dispel common misconceptions about fraternities.
“We really believe it is a good cause,” Spiker said. “We believe it is a good way to show people that we really do care.”
But along with wanting to support this cause, he also sees the marathon as a way to challenge himself both mentally and physically.
“It is partly a personal challenge to see if I can do it two years in a row,” Spiker said.
Fourth-year molecular, cell and developmental biology and sociology student Eric Newton is also running the L.A. Marathon on Sunday.
Newton decided to run the marathon last year with a group of resident assistants after finding that they all had an interest in running.
“Since I ran recreationally through high school, it seemed like a natural milestone,” Newton said.
The challenge of running a marathon also encouraged Newton. He said that running the marathon was probably one of the most physically demanding things he has ever done, especially in terms of how he felt after completing the race.
“I like doing that kind of stuff, just to see what I can take,” he said.
Weber was one of the RAs who ran with Newton last year, and she is running the marathon in hopes of qualifying for the Boston Marathon.
What sets the Boston Marathon apart is the fact that you have to qualify for it, Weber said.
To do this, she will have to run the 26.2 miles in under three hours and 40 minutes.
She also ran the marathon last year and was only nine minutes over the 3:40 mark.
When asked if they had any advice for those interested in running a marathon, both Newton and Weber emphasized the marathon’s accessibility.
After doing some research, Newton found that the youngest person running the L.A. Marathon is 6 years old, and the oldest person is 85.
“So I look at a bunch of college students in their 20s, who are saying they can’t do it, and yeah, you can,” Newton said.
“It is not as daunting as people initially think it is; there are so many fun things to distract you along the way,” Weber said.
Some of the distractions she mentioned were the sheer number of people running the marathon, as well as those who live along the race route and bring the runners snacks and cheer them on.
Last year, there was a cell phone promotion in which the promoters brought cell phones to the runners and the runners were able to call friends and family while running.
All three have been doing some form of training that involves progressively longer runs once a week and shorter runs the rest of the week.
Spiker said that the hardest part about training for the marathon is staying consistent.
“It is easy to stop running, the most important thing is to run as often as possible,” he said.
Newton and Spiker have also changed their diets to prepare for the marathon.
Spiker spoke to the chef at Sigma Pi about making healthier meals for the 10 fraternity members who are training for the marathon.
“Indirectly, everyone in the fraternity is eating healthier,” he said.
Spiker emphasized that all of Sigma Pi has played a part in fundraising and preparing for the marathon.
“It is a whole-house effort,” Spiker said.
Everyone in the fraternity has been sending letters and talking to family members and businesses to raise money for the center, and they also provide moral support for those running. Others in the fraternity are responsible for publicizing the event.
Such a challenging experience “brings people in the house together on whole new level,” Spiker said.
Diet and training are not the only aspects involved in preparing for the marathon; there are also mental aspects to readying oneself for the 26.2-mile run.
“It is mostly mental if you already have a training base,” Weber said.
“(It’s) more of an internal struggle to do this; most of us have never ran a race before ““ most people have not challenged themselves to this extent,” Spiker said.